MONTEREY COUNTY: The Monterey County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 on Sept. 29 to approve an ordinance implementing the Agricultural and Winery Corridor Plan, closing out 16 years of planning and giving the county's wine industry a streamlined path for new wineries, tasting rooms, and visitor-serving businesses.

The ordinance layers the corridor designation over the existing zoning in three designated areas of unincorporated Monterey County, along River Road, Metz Road in the Central Salinas Valley, and Jolon Road in South County, and it gives eligible projects a formal zoning-clearance route. It allows for up to 10 new, full-scale wineries; wine tasting and visitor-serving activities associated with wineries; large winery events, including weddings with more than 500 people through special-event permits; and inns, employee housing, and other winery-related uses.

Photograph: Danicox40, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The corridor plan was originally adopted as part of the county's 2010 General Plan, when a significant share of the unincorporated area's farmland was in grape production and wine grapes ranked among the county's top-value crops. It was first requested in 2001 by the Monterey County Vintners and Growers Association as a way to keep the local wine industry economically viable. That association disbanded in 2025, and the Monterey County Farm Bureau has carried the industry's voice through this year's review process, from the agricultural advisory committee in April 2025 to the Planning Commission this summer.

The vote arrives as the industry is in a down cycle. Monterey County wine grapes declined 25 percent in gross value in 2025, the second consecutive annual decline, according to the county crop report. "Overall, we're very satisfied with the way this has turned out," said Norm Groot, executive director of the Monterey County Farm Bureau, at the board meeting. "It allows for a lot of flexibility, which I think is really important, particularly as the wine-making industry recovers from the current economic depression that they are in."

Groot added that the corridor's new winery and tasting-room development will take time: "It's probably going to be several years before we get to that point, but this sets us up to be in the right place for that inclusionary development of these entertainment sites as well as the wine tasting rooms."

Photograph: Jim G, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

"Waiting 16 years I think is long enough," Supervisor Chris Lopez said at the meeting. "I know that the industry right now is at a down point, and this is a cyclical market. Hopefully, when they come back, we are open to continue to review and revise, knowing that that may look different when it comes back and having this in place may make it easier for those folks who want to invest along the corridor."

Supervisors also asked staff to come back within 90 days with clearer size limits for kitchen and dining areas, and with answers on employee housing and groundwater.